From the UK, comes Black/Death/Gridcore act SHRYKULL. “Beyond Subconscious Realms” is the band’s second full-length, and it has nine songs. “Blockading the Kingdom of Infinite Space” is first. It has a very weighted sound, with muted production for extra effect. The bass notes are particularly nasty. It soon picks up to a frenzy of Black Metal screams followed by gutturals, and the music is largely dissonant. “Id Hammer” is next, and it has a distinct Thrash riff to it, as well as a breakneck pace. I rather prefer the gutturals to the shouts, but that is just me. “Gateway of Nightmares” is another dark song with a good deal of dissonance in the guitars. The band uses the low E chord as a base for the riffs, but they venture out a bit.

“Astral Mutiny” has a slower pace with a bit of a groove, and this is one song that will get your foot tapping, or head banging, whichever you prefer. The crash of the cymbals however takes over a lot of the sound. “A Glint in the Basilisk’s Eye” has a very slow pace at first, in the realm of Doom Metal. It picks up from there however and really causes a raucous. Still, besides the grind, this music doesn’t go much for me. “Chaotic Disforms ff Cosmic Misalignment” is where the wheels on the album start to come off a bit for me. Seven grinding songs without much diversity is a little hard to take. I get the brutal aspect of the music, but they need to diversify where they can.

“Impenetrable Mist” is a little higher in the registry, at first, but the deep swamp water pulls it back down to the blackness below. “Collective Fugue State” closes the album, and it’s another song with a re-hashed riff and not much else to get excited about. Overall, this was just a mediocre album. The band spends a lot of time in the mud, where everything gets covered and everyone looks the same after emerging. That was the type of album that this was, very homogeneous.